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POLITICO Playback

“Left cheering Leno exit typical, he dared to entertain and offer jokes for the other 50% of country. Unacceptable in ‘New America’…” tweeted Matt Drudge this week in the wake of news of Fallon’s ascension. And Jezebel touched on Leno’s rough relationship with the coastal elites, describing him as “Middle America’s favorite late-night host.”

Fox News’ “The Five” speculated, if slightly in jest as is the show’s wont, that Leno was suffering for his barbs against President Barack Obama.

“Clearly he pushed it too far,” said Greg Gutfeld said, half joking, on Thursday. “The network will send him to a reeducation camp for required therapy,” adding that Leno should poke more fun at Sarah Palin if he wants to keep his job.

“In the last few hours I have read about NBC and Jay Leno. I don’t know if what I read is 1/2 true … all true … or even false … but I do think this could be handled better. Jay Leno deserves to be treated better — he has accomplished much and done a great deal for the network. I don’t know if it is NBC or the media but Jay Leno deserves better treatment than he appears to be getting. What do you think?”

Perhaps conservatives will be cheering when they hear this — Leno could land at Fox.

This from the New York Post on Friday: “The head of Fox’s powerful affiliate board — who represents the majority of the 206 Fox stations around the country, said yesterday he favors building a new late-night show — starting at 11 o’clock — around the departing ‘Tonight Show’ host. ‘If Fox were to present the right business plan, the affiliate board would be interested,’ Steve Pruett, the board chairman, told the Post.

Matt Towery wrote on the conservative Town Hall website that Leno — despite being a liberal — is like “Barry Goldwater” when compared with David Letterman.

“… I know that Jay Leno, like most on network TV, is a self-proclaimed ‘liberal,’ but I could care less. Next to David Letterman, he looks like Barry Goldwater,” Towery wrote.